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Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love?
Why Must I Be a Crustacean in Love? is the ninth episode of Futurama Season Two. It was written by Eric Kaplan, and directed by Brian Sheesley. Synopsis Amy and Leela drag Fry and Bender to the gym, and Doctor Zoidberg tags along. While at the gym, Zoidberg behaves erratically and aggressively, and even develops a head fin. He breaks into a room where pregnant women are doing aerobics in a pool, where the shock of seeing him causes one of the women to give birth. When the instructor asks if there is a doctor in the gym, Zoidberg responds that he is a doctor, causing the others to give birth as well. Back at the laboratory, Professor Farnsworth examines Zoidberg, whose claws are held shut with rubber bands, and determines that it is mating season for Zoidberg's species. The crew flies to Zoidberg's home planet, Decapod 10. After a short tour, Zoidberg sets up a mound on the beach and begins trying to attract a mate. After an unsuccessful day, Zoidberg meets Edna, an old classmate. She rejects him and Zoidberg leaves depressed. Fry begins teaching Zoidberg how to win Edna's heart using human romance techniques. Using his newfound techniques, Zoidberg successfully woos Edna to a date. While at a restaurant, Leela reveals to Edna that Fry is responsible for the change in Zoidberg. Under the pretext of discussing Zoidberg, Edna invites Fry to her apartment and begins an unsuccessful attempt at seducing him. Zoidberg walks in, sees them embracing, and challenges Fry to Claw-Plach, a ritual fight to the death. In the arena, Fry is about to defeat Zoidberg, but cannot kill his friend. Unfortunately, Zoidberg doesn't feel the same way and cuts Fry's arm off with his claw. After more fighting, Fry and Zoidberg look up to discover the entire Decapodian audience has left, including Edna who has decided to mate with the king. Once every Decapodian is underwater, masses of eggs float to the surface; Zoidberg has missed the mating frenzy of his species. They soon witness the corpses of all the Decapodians float to the surface, where they are feasted on by seagulls. Zoidberg explains that members of his species die after mating and apologizes to Fry about how he acted. He felt things he never felt before: "love jealousy, and passion for disemboweling". He then tries to reattach Fry's arm but he attaches it on the wrong side. Trying again, he saws off the legs. For the last try it is presumed, since there is no scream of pain audible, that he beheads Fry. References Explained *The entire episode, particularly the ritual arena combat between Fry and Zoidberg, has close correlations with the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Amok Time" *Fry hiding in the shrubbery and giving tips to Zoidberg while Zoidberg romances Edna is a reference to "Cyrano de Bergerac", a play written in 1897 by Edmond Rostand that was made into at least one mid-20th century movie, and was the basis of Steve Martin's movie "Roxanne". *The title comes from a lyric in the 1959 Dion and the Belmonts song "A Teenager in Love". * In the gym scene, Zoidberg says he is going to work out with "the nautilus", and goes to play basketball with a nautilus-like alien. The company Nautilus, Inc. produces exercise equipment. * In the gym scene, one of the "dirtiest, but subtlest jokes ever on Futurama" (as described by David X. Cohen on the DVD commentary) is seen: the Kegelcizer machine. * When Edna kisses Fry, her facial tentacles wrap around his head in a fashion which is reminiscent of an attack of an Illithid or Mind Flayer from the Dungeons and Dragons game series; illithids, like Decapodians, have four tentacles around their mouths, and wrap them around heads to extract the brains for consumption. * The national anthem of Decapod 10 is the same music heard during the fight scene between James T. Kirk and Spock from the Star Trek: TOS episode "Amok Time". Several elements in this episode, such as Decapodian mating season and the ritualistic battle to the death also mirror plot details from that particular Star Trek episode. Also the traditional Vulcan weapon used in kal-if-fee is shown as one of the weapons Fry can choose from. Claw-plach also sounds a lot like Qa'pla, the Star Trek Klingon word for "Success." This entire sequence was used earlier on The Simpsons on the season five episode Deep Space Homer when Barney and Homer train to be astronauts. * During Claw-Plach Zoidberg cuts a 'Dr Z' in Fry's shirt, a reference to Zorro. * When taking bets just prior to the Claw-Plach fight between Zoidberg and Fry, Bender refers to Zoidberg as "The Great Red Hope". This is a reference to "The Great White Hope", Jim Jeffries, who, in 1910 fought Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight boxing champion, in a symbolic racial competition. * The restaurant "Red Primate" is a parody of Red Lobster. Category:Season Two